The UCITS Alternative Index Global lost -1.37 per cent in June to leave it at +0.94 year-to-date. The funds of funds index performed slightly worst with losses of -1.85 per cent. The UAI Funds of Funds is now up 1.24 per cent since the beginning of the year.

With the exception of Equity Market Neutral and Commodities, all single strategies lost ground in June. The UAI Emerging Markets suffered the worst performance, down -3.08 per cent, followed by the UAI CTA and the UAI Macro, respectively down -2.70 per cent and -2.15 per cent. The UAI Long/Short Equity recorded negative returns for the first time this year with -1.31 per cent. Similarly, the UAI Fixed Income posted its first monthly losses (-0.68 per cent). On a year to date basis, the UAI Long/Short Equity is the best performing strategy index with an increase of +3.39 per cent. The next best performers are the UAI Multi-Strategy (up +1.28 per cent) and the UAI Equity Market Neutral (up +0.64 per cent).
Alceda Fund Management S.A. last week announced that it was partnering with APN Property Group to launch its former Cayman fund, which focuses on Asian Real Estate Investment Trusts, as a Luxembourg-based SICAV SIF. APN is a specialist Asia Pacific real estate fund manager with offices in Melbourne and Singapore. The firm currently manages more than USD1.6billion of real estate and real estate securities globally. The fund primarily invests in listed property and infrastructure securities with the aim of returning a higher level of income, with lower volatility, than would normally be expected from investing solely in Asian REITs. Stephen Finch, CEO of APN Property Group, Asia, said: “Asian REITs are delivering sound investment credentials. With over a decade of strong growth, Asian REITs already account for 16% of the global REIT market. By redomiciling our Cayman fund into a Luxembourg fund structure, we aim to provide European investors with direct access to the Asian growth story through a demonstrably superior performing portfolio of Asian REITs.”
Michael Sanders, Chairman of the Board, Alceda Fund Management, added: “We are seeing growing interest from European, Latin American and US investors in investment opportunities in the Asian markets. We are delighted that APN Property Group have chosen to partner with us. Given our local presence, established international network, and strong experience in structuring funds, we are ideally placed to support APN in extending their investor base by offering the SICAV SIF.”
Insight Investments has launched a UCITS version of its high yield fund, reported FTAdvisor this week. The Irish-domiciled fund will be based on the Insight Short-Dated High Yield Bond fund, which Ulrich Gerhard has been managing as part of a qualified investor fund (QIF) for the last three years. The UCITS version has been seeded with USD200million from the QIF. The fund invests in sub-investment grade bonds and primarily focuses on short-duration assets, which offer “more attractive risk-adjusted returns, with less volatility than traditional high yield bonds”.
In other fund launch news, Neuberger Berman has launched three sub-funds of its Irish-domiciled UCITS funds umbrella, Neuberger Berman Investment Funds, with a focus on emerging markets. The three sub-funds will be managed by a new 23-strong emerging market debt team, most of whom joined from ING earlier this year. Bart van der Made is the portfolio manager of the Neuberger Berman Emerging Market Debt – Hard Currency Fund. Raoul Luttik is to manage the Neuberger Berman Emerging Market Debt – Local Currency Fund, whilst Nish Popat and Jennifer Gorgoll are to manage the Neuberger Berman Emerging Market Debt Corporate Debt Fund.
Dik van Lomwel, head of Neuberger Berman EMEA and Latin America, was quoting as saying: “Adding the emerging market debt team to Neuberger Berman was a key strategic initiative as it enables us to offer our investors complete fixed income solutions. The launch of the three Ucits funds marks an important first step in building a comprehensive suite of emerging market debt strategies.”